EH-Net

So I have been studying for the CEH for about a month. I used various study materials such as online exams, Sybex review guide, etc.

I must say that the exam was way off from what I used as study guides. I was surprised with the level of depth most of the questions went into, especially having to analyze full page logs and memorizing exact syntax and commands with options.

The practice and review material in the book were nowhere near reflective of the exam style questions, which really threw me off.

That combined with ongoing renovations at the test facility both factored into my failing mark.

I filed a complaint with Pearson Vue to hopefully get a complimentary retake on the exam. I did not appreciate jack hammering and drilling in the adjacent office space.

Maybe I was too cocky since I sucessfully passed the CISSP in December, or did not take the exam seriously enough.

Either way, I am disappointed, but will try harder next attempt.

Sorry to hear about the fail :(

I'll be taking this in a month or so, so I appreciate the feedback. Have you looked at the Exam Prep or Wiley books? The review guide is pretty weak.

I wish they would do a better job with laying out their expectations in the exam objectives. There are so many items that it's difficult to determine what to focus on. It's not realistic (or even useful in regards to the obsolete tools) to become proficient with everything.

I've taken exams in those types of conditions; it doesn't help at all. Hopefully you get your free retake. I'm sure you'll nail it next time!

From what I've been told the exam really wants you to be able to not only know how to use the tools but to be able to decipher what the output is saying to you...

Some of the questions from CEH: Official Certified Ethical Hacker Review Guide: Exam 312-50  (http://www.amazon.com/CEH-Official-Certified-Ethical-Hacker/dp/0782144373/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1) were asked on my CEH v5 test. Questions in this review guide resemble to those in the real test. You should probably check the review guide out. I know it helped me some what in passing the test. Hope this helps and good luck on your next one. 

Yup, I agree. This is the book to have.

First, which version of the CEH exam did you take?

It's been said multiple times throughout this forum that this is not a test you should be using online practice tests to study for, they won't help.

The Sybex review guide, which you've said that you read, should definitely be helpful for v5, and probably for v6 as well. It sounds like you may have underestimated the exam (as, no offense, many CISSPs seem to do).

Did you buy (or even consider) purchasing the official courseware for the CEH from EC-Council?

You obviously have a good idea of what's on the test now that you've taken it, so use that to your advantage. Go back and get more familiar with the tools that you saw show up so that you know the syntax. And definitely take another look at the Sybex review guide and go even further in-depth on some of the topics brought up.

Good luck on the next attempt and let us know if you have any other questions.

BillV

Keep your head up. You're not the only one to fail an exam whether it be for a course or a cert. Your attitude and self-assessment will prove to be worthwhile when you next take the test and pass.

Hey Bill,

Do you think my CEH review is still applicable to the exam being taken now?

So You Want To Hack For A Living? (http://www.ethicalhacker.net/content/view/73/24/)

Don

Sorry for the late reply, Don. Been busy and out of town this weekend. Yes, the review absolutely still applies. Some of the stuff is obviously dated (ex: the contents of the courseware kit have changed, and the writing is significantly better). Aside from that you  may want to consider removing the links to the cramsession study guide (as that was very outdated last I checked, and perhaps change the link for the official courseware).

Bill

Feel your pain, I sat for the CEH today and I got a 69%!  I have to agree with what you have said in regards to the exam.  But all I can do now is really jump into the material and try again!

Sorry to hear that grinch...was it not at all how you expected it?  how much did your degree end up helping you?

My degree helped a lot over all, but there were a couple of things I failed to do.  Some of my courses were sometime ago so my knowledge on little details was not sharp.  Methodology and concepts I believe I was pretty much perfect with.  Just the little details and a couple topics not covered in the material I had that were in the test.  A learning experience and the thing I didn't expect was the depth a lot of the questions had....

My condolences!  I squeaked by. If I had missed one more question I would have failed.  I just registered here but I took a forensics class from one of the guys that contributes here.  You might want to solicit him for some CEH exam pointers - being as contributed many of the questions for the version of the exam I took.  (that would be Justin Peltier!)

I heard that there's some thoughts to requiring CEU's (continuing education units) to retain your cert.  It won't be like taking a specific course or exam update.  Just submitting info on an annual basis that indicates an on-going interest.  Like you attended BlackHat, ISSA association meetings, that kind of thing.  So it won't matter which exam you pass, as long as you're keeping current somehow.

Hello , sorry !

I'm studying is 1 months
----------------------------------------
CEH review guide - Kimberly Graves
carrer academy 17 cds
offensive security 101 videos v1
Ethical Hacking (EC-Council Exam 312-50): Student courseware
Sybex
Certified Ethical Hacker Exam Prep
By Michael Gregg
----------------------------------
I'm in Brazil and the test costs 500 reais

does it?

giavaroto!
hi again
i finished my CEH at first attempt but according to me wht i went through for online studies and wht information i got according to them in online was no match for the exams in CEH as CEH question what u say was rought was not much rough as OSCP or CISSP, CEH study material is way tooo old and outdated and the training wht u get in those labs or or tools wht u get in the study material is too out dated, have look at the study material of OSCP, OSWP, or CISSP , its more too advanced and few of the topics which this certs are covering are too new for me belive it or not few of them heard for the first time :P

Careful beating up on the CEH too much, there are quite a few folks here that hold it. A new revision (6) just came out and should address some of the material being a bit dated. Also keep in mind that it is intended to be an entry level cert.

I just passed the CEH exam (v5) this month with an 82% and I don't mind beating on it.

Some questions had improper grammar and were clearly not proofread. That is unacceptable for any professional certification exam. It certainly affects your ability to understand and correctly answer the question in a timely matter.

Some questions also exploited the "choose the best answer" directive. E.g., Review this bash history file and infer what happened. Some of the choices for the answer would be very simliar.

Some even defied logic: How would use you toolA to avoid detection?

• toolA in mode 1
• toolA in mode 2
• toolA in mode 3
• Don't usetoolA, use toolB

 ???

Well first off congrats. Good to have yet another C|EH on board the site (Not that I'm one but there's many here who also have it). Serious; Improper Grammar? That's highly not professional, makes me wonder how employers actually see this certification in the industry. Can you provide for us what all you read / studied that helped prep you for test?

hi jason
i never hated CEH, or blaming but being a entry level certs
they should make the trainings or the books or the tools updated or new ones , not like most of trojan wrappers or trojan they give are easily found and snapped by AV,
i still like CEH, as the name say does it make u a ethical Hacker
no offence

Thanks, sorry I had to get that rant out. I used

• CEH: Official Certified Ethical Hacker Review Guide: Exam 312-50 - Graves
• Certified Ethical Hacker Exam Prep (Exam Prep 2 (Que Publishing)) - Gregg

And some sample questions from a friend of mine. Note, the "Official" book by Graves above is very basic, and really only serves as a review or introduction to the exam material.

Some advice before you take:
Know all the major tools: nmap, hping, ettercap, Ethereal/Wireshark, netcat and their switches.

Don't attempt if you are a novice at CLI or Linux.

Know some basics of shell scripting or other high-level language scripting. Maybe take a look at some of the more simple code samples at milw0rm. Also, be familiar with buffer overflows (the signs of one) and SQL injection.